Cricket News

Sourav selected for South Africa Test series

Nov 30, 2006, 8:33 GMT

New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) Sourav Ganguly is part of the 16-member squad for the three-match Test series against South Africa starting Dec 15, it was announced here Thursday by Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah.

'He (Sourav) is an experienced player and has done well in the domestic circuit recently,' said Dillip Vengsarkar, chairman of the selection committee.

Sourav, as Bengal captain, hit an unbeaten 118 for East Zone against North Zone in the Duleep Trophy. He then made 43 in the second innings for Bengal in their opening Ranji Trophy match against Punjab. He also picked up four wickets in the match. He stepped down Wednesday as Bengal captain.

On Sourav's equation with Indian coach Greg Chappell, Vengsarkar said: 'We have picked the team for India and not for anybody.'

V.V.S Laxman, who is with the team in South Africa for the final one dayer at the Centurion on Sunday, replaces out-of-form Virender Sehwag as vice-captain.

Gautam Gambhir was selected as third opener while medium-pacer Vikram Rajvir Singh was also selected.

Dinesh Mongia, Mohammed Kaif, Ajit Agarkar and Suresh Raina have been dropped from the Test squad.

'Gambhir has done well in domestic cricket and he has been selected as the third opener,' Vengsarkar said.

'We have picked the team only for the Test matches,' said Vengsarkar.

On Pathan, he said: 'In the last game he has done well with both bat and ball. He is the man for the future. I am sure he will perform well.'

India have already lost the five-match one-day series 0-3. The first of the three Test starts Dec 15 at Johannesburg.

SQUAD: Rahul Dravid (captain), V.V.S Laxman (vice-captain) Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Vikram Rajvir Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service